Art or method of making transfer-rolls for producing undersurface or intaglio printing-plates.



W. S. EATON. ART 08 METHOD OF MAKINGTRANSFER ROLLS FOR PRODUCING UNDERSURFACE 0R INTAGLIO PRINTING PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 23| 1913.

l 1 9M? A1131? 7., Patented July 11., 1916.

WILLIAM S. EATON, OF SAG HARBOR, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY. A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ART 0B METHOD OF MAKING TRANSFER-ROLLS FOR PRODUCING UNDER/SURFACE OR INTAGLIO PRINTING-PLATES.

manner.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July til, 191W.

Application filed October 23. 1913- Serial No. 796.820.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM S. EATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sag Harbor, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Impro ements in the Art or Method of Making Transfer-Rolls for Producing Undersurface or Intaglio Printing-Plates, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My invention relates to the art or method of making transfer rolls for producing undersurface or intaglio printing plates, and more particularly to an art or method of developing such transfer rolls through a series of mechanical reproductions of the master, as distinguished from the present methods of hand production thereof.

The herein described art or method is especially adapted for use in developing those portions of an undersurface or intaglio printing plate for bank notes or other negotiable instruments or papers, constituting safety designs, such as borders, rosettes, etc., as distinguished from artistic reproductions in which the skill or eccentricity of the engraver is a matter of primary importance. Such designs have heretofore been made partly by machine and partly by hand, upon a steel plate, the transfer roll receiving directly from the original or master plate, the impression to be impressed thereby upon the printing plate.

Ordinarily, and particularly in bank note work, these designs are madeup of white lines against a colored background in the completed work, and are known as white line safety designs, while in other kinds of safety paper-they may be formed of colored lines against a light background.

By my present invention, I am enabled to produce the original or master des gn upon a substance upon which the design may be quickly and accuratel inscribed or formed in depressed lines, an the transfer roller or other medium for impressing this design upon the printing plate may be quickly and economically produced from this original or master, and my method or art may be utilized, by a slight modification, to produce rollers for use in making or method wherein after the creation of a design, any portion thereof may be obliterated, thus permitting wide range of variances in the nature of the designs produced. And a still further object is to provide such an art or method wherein perfectly smooth non-printing surfaces may be secured.

l i In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated diagrammatically the several steps incidental to the production of a transfer roll for white line work.

The invention consists primarily in anart or method of makingtransfer rolls for producing intaglio or undersurface printing plates embodying therein the production upon a master plate of a design in depressed lines, the reproduction of said design upon a metallic body capable of being tempered, the tempering of said body,

the transfer of the design from said body, through pressure, upon a relatively softer body, and the tempering of said last named body; and in such other novel steps and practices as are hereinafter set forth and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings :Figure 1 indicates the original or master plate upon which the original design is inscribed or formed in depressed lines; Fig. 2 indicates a reversal of said design upon a cast metallic body; Fig. 3 indicates a wax mold carrying an impression of the casting shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 indicates a metallic electro-deposition made upon said wax mold;

Fig. 5 indicates an electro-conductive, duc-' tile p'lateformed from said copper deposit; Fig. 6 indicates a body of iron formed by electro-deposition upon said ductile plate; and Fig. 7 iinlicates a transfer roll taken from said body of iron.

In the practice of my invention, 1 inscribe a depressed line design upon a plate, the surface of which is so soft as'to readily admit of the quick formation of lines of the desired depth and thickness, said plate preferably being a metallic plate provided with a surface coating of chalk or other refractory material of a fine, close grain. Such a platen'iay readily have clean sharp lines drawn thereon, and these lines may be crossed or r'un together without breaking down the coating adjacent thereto. This type of plate is especially adapted for use in making complex line designs. and in practice I have found it to be highly satisfactory. The design may be created mechanically, and in practice I have so made it. When the original design has been thus created in depressed lines upon the master plate, I make. a metal cast therefrom. preferably using ordinary type metal, said cast bearing the design in relief.

If it be desired to obliterate any portion of the design created upon the master plate,

the refractory coating may be removed from the plate, thus causing the top surface of 'thc'cast made from this plate to be. flush with the raised portions of the design appearing upon said cast, and as in white line work the design upon a completed printing plate will coincide with that upon this cast, the intaglio or mulersurface lines will be defined by that portion of the master plate which was not removed either in creating the design, or thereafter. 'hen a cast, as indicated in Fig. 2.has been thus produced, I make a matrix therefrom consisting of a soft metal such as sheet lead which in addition to being ductile, so as to be capable of receiving a good sharp imprint, is also flexible, so as to permit it to be stripped froln a body of metal to be thereafter dcposited thereon through electro-deposition.

This matrix is of electro-comluctive mate,

rial to facilitate the eleetro-deposition of the metal thereon. The manner of forming this matrix will di'iler, according to whether it is desired to produce a plate for printing the design in colored, or in white. lines. If it be desired to produce a plate for making a design in color, the matrix is made by forming a wax mold from the type metal cast of the master and depositing thereon through electro-deposition, in a manner well known to electroty wrs, a thin metallic matrix, preferably of copper, as shown in Fig. 40f the drawings. This impression is then used as a cathode in a plating bath for -depositing iron or steel. If. however, it be desired to n'iake a. plate for producing a white line design. in addition to the above mentioned steps, I first back up the copper matrix and form therefrom by pressure. a

lead matrix which is used in the plating bath.

The matrix of copper or lead as above specified, has deposited thereon in the usual and well known manner, iron or steel in sufficient quantity to give the desired thickness and rigidity thereto, thus securing,

through the electro-deposition of said iron or steel, :1 body having upon the surface thereof either in cameo or intaglio lines, a replica of the design created upon the master plate. This steel or iron plate is then hardened by the ordinary tempering processes used in steel plate work, the matrix having first been stripped therefrom. After the hardening of said plate, as indicated in Fig. (3 of the drawings, said design is rolled upon a soft steel roll, which is afterward hardened and used in the ordinary manner for transferring upon the printing plate. It will thus be seen that although the original design is created upon a body incapable of use as a printing plate, by making a sequence of alternately reversed reprmluction's thereof, I am enabled to produce a transfer roll bearing a design either in cameo, or in intaglio lines, which may be used in the produet1on of a printing plate. The number of reproductions from this original or master plate would vary according to whether it is desired to produce a roll capable of producing plates for white line, or for colored line, scroll work.

If desired, instead of using a plate coated with chalk, or other similar material, for the original or master, a routing tool may be used upon a metallic plate and the second step of the process dispensed with, although the facility with which the chalk coated plate may be used, and the rapidity with which a design may be created thereon, make this form of plate highly desirable, and preferable.

I-Iaving described my invention what I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described art or method of making transfer rolls for producing intaglio or undersurface printing plates, including therein the steps of producing a design in depressed lines upon a master plate, reprodlu-ing said design through electro-deposition upon a metallic body capable of being tempered, tempering said body, transferring said design from said body, through pressure, upon a relatively softer body. and tempering said last named body..

.2. The herein described art or method of making transfer rolls for producing intaglio or umlersurface printing plates, including therein the steps of producing a design in depressed lines upon a master plate, having a soft, refractory surface, making a. metal cast from said master plate, developing an electro-conductive matrix from said cast, using said matrix as a cathode for making a' plate through electro-deposition, which will be capable of being tempered,

tempering said plate, transferring the design from said plate through pressure upon a relatively softer body, and the tempering of said last named body.

3. The herein described art or method of making transfer rolls for producing intaglio or undersurface printing plates, including therein the steps of producing a design in depressed lines upon a master plate, having a soft, refractory surface, making a metal cast from said master plate, making a Wax impression of said cast, electro-depositing copper upon said Wax matrix forming, through pressure, a matrix of soft material from said copper matrix, using said last named matrix as a cathode for making a plate through electro-deposition, Which Will be capable of being tempered, tempering said plate, transferring the design from said plate through pressure upon a relatively softer body, and tempering said last named bodv.

4. The herein described art or method of making transfer rolls for producing intaglio or undersurface printing plates, including therein the steps of producing a design in depressed lines upon a master plate, having a soft, refractory surface, making a metal cast from said master plate, making a Wax impression of said cast, electro-depositing copper upon said Wax matrix, forming, through pressure, a matrixof lead from said copper matrix, using said lead matrix as a cathode for making a plate through electro-deposition, which Will be capable of being tempered, tempering said plate, trans-- ferring the design from said plate through pressure upon a. relatively softer body, and tempering said last named body.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 2d day of October, 1913.

WILLIAM S. EATON.

Witnesses:

WM. R. REIMANN,

P. EATON. 

